Cat-Demon and Dog-Demon
by Segev
Summary: Ryo-ohki falls into the Bone-Eater's Well. The First Chapter had its end cut off; that has been fixed. New chapter up as well: Chapter 5.
1. The Cabbit and the Fox

"You were right, Yosho, this is nice. I needed to get away from home for a while," Ryoko said wistfully, her hair streaming out the open window as Tenchi's grandfather drove the car.  
  
The gray-haired man smiled. "I thought you might. I know how hard it has been on you, lately. But you shouldn't call me 'Yosho'; I am Katsuhito Masaki in this world."  
  
He was traveling to a small shrine where there had been complaints about fraudulent relics and magical artifacts being sold. He was coming to investigate, as people were doubting his own shrine's validity due to this one's priest's failure to produce promised results.  
  
The situation at home had become uncomfortable in the last year. Ryoko and Ayeka had become even worse in their bickering over Tenchi two years ago, so much so that at the beginning of last year, Tenchi had gone off to high school in Tokyo to get away from them. It had been conveniently timed, as Sasami was old enough that she needed to go off to Middle School-- her education under private tutors on Jurai had been interrupted when she had accompanied her older sister on their search for their half-brother-- and she had secretly taken entrance exams to various schools, not wanting to tell the family about it. She had scored so high on them that every school in Japan had flooded the shrine with letters begging her to attend; the best by far was in Tokyo. Tenchi had agreed to take care of her while they were in the city.  
  
Unfortunately for the girls left behind, Sasami had begun developing into the beauty promised by Tsunami's appearance, and her mental and emotional maturity were developing as well. By the time they returned to the Shrine for Summer Break, Tenchi's attitude towards Sasami had shifted from that of a big brother to that of a boyfriend, and she returned the feelings. Ayeka and Ryoko got even worse once they realized this, driving the young couple to escape back to Tokyo as soon as the school year re- started.  
  
Both then took it into their heads to go to school in Tokyo with Tenchi, but they did so abominably on their entrance exams that they had begged Washu to find a way to get them in anyway. Washu had, of course, refused. After a while, those two had stopped fighting--with the object of their squabbles now claimed, it had become pointless--and had instead become friends of a sort, commiserating together in the hot spring floating over the pond, sharing gallons of sake.  
  
Eventually, Washu, Mihoshi, and Katsuhito had managed to talk Ayeka out of her funk, and she had even entertained some hopes of winning Tenchi anyway. They had expected this to spark Ryoko back into her old habit of fighting Ayeka over the Juraian prince, but the gold-eyed demon had instead just sunk deeper into her depression.  
  
It was in a last, desperate effort to pull her out of this that Katsuhito had asked her to come along on this trip. So far, it seemed to be working. She seemed more like a young woman now than she had in months. She was still unnaturally peaceful for Ryoko, but at least she wasn't moping anymore.  
  
Ryoko, meanwhile, was just enjoying the new experience of riding in a car--funny that, in the five years she had been on Earth, she'd never ridden in one; then again, she has her own means of getting around--and trying to forget about Tenchi for a little while.  
  
They were just ten minutes away from their destination when she heard it. She had pulled her head back in the car and closed the window when her sharp ears heard a rustling in the back seat. "Did you hear that?" she asked the old man behind the wheel.  
  
Katsuhito was about to shake his head no when he did hear it. "Wait, yes, I heard it. I can't stop the car here, why don't you phase back there and find out what it is?" Ryoko did just that, and, after rummaging around in the packing that they had for luggage on this trip, she heard another sound: a crunching, followed by a contented mew. Following the sound, she discovered a small gray ball of fur eating a carrot.  
  
"Ryo-ohki! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, slightly angry. She hadn't given her starship permission to come along. The cabbit looked up at her, and offered her the remains of the carrot, as if apologizing. "Well, we're almost to the shrine, so there's no point in taking you back. I guess you'll just have to come along, after all. Just try to stay out of trouble."  
  
"We have a stowaway, do we?" asked Katsuhito.  
  
Ryoko laughed as she teleported back into her seat and re-buckled, holding the cabbit in her lap. "Yep, I suppose she just wanted to come along with us."  
  
"I think she was worried about you. She seems much happier now than she has in months; it must be that you're finally relaxing a bit."  
  
Ryoko just gave a small chortle, and petted Ryo-ohki.  
  
* * *  
  
"Grampa! Grampa! There's another priest here to see you!" Sota shouted as he ran into the temple house. Ryo-ohki followed close behind him, still in cabbit form.  
  
Five minutes later, everyone was in the living room; Sota's mother had put out a tray of carrots, which Ryo-ohki was happily munching. Sota was oohing and ahhing over the strange looking rabbit, but the family was showing remarkably little interest in the oddness of Ryoko and Ryo-ohki; Sota's interest was just in the fact that Ryo-ohki was a cute animal. They hadn't even looked twice at Ryoko's golden eyes. She was nonplussed by this, but nevertheless relieved.  
  
"So, what brings you to our shrine?" the old priest asked.  
  
"I have just heard so much about you and your artifacts that I had to come see everything for myself," Katsuhito replied smoothly. "Perhaps we could benefit from an exchange of knowledge."  
  
The old priest was obviously flattered. "Yes, our techniques have been handed down for generations. They are guaranteed to work. I'd be happy to show you around, if you like."  
  
"Yes, I think that would be good," said Katsuhito, smiling, his glasses reflecting white glare.  
  
The two old men walked out, the old priest chatting amiably about his shrine. Sota looked up at Ryoko. "Can I play with your rabbit outside? Huh? Please?" he asked.  
  
"Sure. If it's alright with your mother," responded Ryoko with a smile, looking at his mother.  
  
"Can I, Mom?"  
  
His mother nodded. Ryo-ohki finished the last of the carrots and followed Sota out of the room.  
  
When they were alone, the mother spoke to Ryoko. "I'm sorry my daughter Kagome isn't here to meet you. You might get along quite well with her."  
  
"That's okay, ma'am," said Ryoko, surprising herself with the polite tone of her voice, "I'm just here with Katsuhito on sort of a vacation. I needed to get away."  
  
The two women chatted amiably for about half an hour, until they were interrupted by Sota running into the room, yelling, "Momma! The rabbit fell into the Bone-Eater's well! And it's not coming out!"  
  
Ryoko looked at them, and in a deathly calm voice, asked, "What is the Bone-Eater's well?"  
  
Mother and son exchanged looks. "Legend says that the bones of defeated monsters were thrown into the well, and, a few days later, they would be gone," explained the mother. "I'll just go out there and look for your rabbit. It's not going anywhere." Her face indicated that she wasn't sure of her own words.  
  
"I'll go with you," said Ryoko.  
  
"That's not necessary; Sota can keep you company."  
  
"Listen, Lady," snapped Ryoko, in a tone that Ayeka would have been very familiar with, "I'm not sure what you're trying to pull here, but Ryo- ohki is mine, and if something's happened to her, I want to know what!"  
  
"Very well... Come with us." Sota and his mother left the room. Ryoko followed. They went over to the old temple shrine building. Inside was a square shaft with a three-foot high barrier surrounding it. Sota's mother held a flashlight over the edge, illuminating the well to the floor. It was completely empty. Ryoko tried to sense the presence of her servant, but couldn't. She couldn't summon her either. "Ryo-ohki! Where are you?" she tried calling her.  
  
Sota looked down at the bottom of the well. He turned to his mother and asked in a puzzled, and slightly awed, tone, "Do you think she could have gone through?"  
  
Ryoko didn't like the sound of that. Turning her most threatening look on the pair, she said, "What do you mean, 'gone through'?"  
  
* * *  
  
Ryo-ohki fell into the hole, and was briefly disoriented, so couldn't tell which way was up to start flying. She was so dizzy that the darkness of the hole seemed streaked with blue. She struck bottom rather hard, sat up, shook her little fuzzy head, and looked around. The hole was a square with wooden walls and floor. Having determined that it was empty except for her, she levitated up and out of it. What she saw so shocked her that she almost fell out of the air.  
  
"Meow?" she queried of the world around her, which had inexplicably changed. The hole she had fallen into had been inside a building. The three foot high wall surrounding the hole was now in the middle of a forest, with vines climbing the wall. She hovered above the level of the ground-covering foliage for a while, looking around and trying to figure out what had happened.  
  
Hearing a sound in the distance, she remembered that there were predators that would think a small furry animal was just a tasty snack. She descended to the ground and assumed her humanoid child form, which she had been slowly aging as she gained maturity and knowledge. She now looked to be about ten, though still very fuzzy, with long, spiky hair with white streaks, and had a vocabulary to match.  
  
Wandering away from the well, Ryo-ohki began looking around for some sign of where she might be. Nothing looked particularly familiar. Worse still, there were no carrots in sight. She was so busy lamenting this last fact that she almost missed one feature that she recognized: there was a tree that looked familiar. In fact, now that she thought about it, it looked like the sacred tree that the boy Sota had shown her. This was the only thing familiar besides the well out of which she'd flown. Hoping to use those two things as references to find her way back, she wandered around a bit further. Unfortunately, it wasn't much help, as everything else seemed to have changed.  
  
Beginning to be worried and afraid that she might not find her way back home, she did what most small children would: she sat down and cried. Her own sobbing almost made her sharp ears miss the sound: something was moving around in the foliage. "Meow?" she queried, before realizing that her crying may have attracted a predator.  
  
She heard the rustling again, and isolated it to be coming from a specific bush. Standing up, she walked over to examine it. She fell backwards and turned back into cabbit form when a large, glowing blue ball with large googley eyes and a huge fanged maw exploded from the bush and roared! She cowered for a moment before realizing two things: first, that she could shift to her adult humanoid form, which has energy blast attacks (or, if really hard-pressed, to battleship form); second, that the glowing ball wasn't doing anything except roaring and hovering.  
  
In fact, just as she was about to upshift to adult humanoid form, the ball stopped roaring, looked around, and focused its eyes on the little cabbit. Suddenly, it vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a small boy in blue pantaloons with pointy shoes, fox ears and a fuzzy tail hovering where it had been. The boy descended to the ground and walked over to the cabbit.  
  
* * *  
  
Shippo was feeling a little embarrassed. He'd used his illusions to frighten a little animal, not some dangerous youkai. Then again, he'd never seen such a strange looking animal before; maybe it was a youkai after all. Oh, well, something that small wasn't likely to be dangerous. Suddenly, it popped much like the effect when one of his illusions ended, and the little kitsune youkai was so startled that he fell on his backside. He found himself looking up at a fuzzy, strange looking girl about his own age. She must be a youkai, after all! He scrambled to his feet quickly and assumed a defensive posture.  
  
The girl tilted her head curiously, and said, "Hello?" Somehow, the way she said it made Shippo think of the sound a cat makes. Then, looking as if she was remembering something she had forgotten, she first gave a polite bow, then held out her hand in a strange gesture--one that Shippo remembered Kagome using when introducing herself to new people.  
  
Relaxing slightly, Shippo decided that this youkai was probably as harmless as himself. Still not trusting her much, though, he didn't take her outstretched hand as he thought Kagome had indicated was proper. Instead, he questioned her with as much authority as he could muster (not much, but he thought it was impressive), "Who are you?"  
  
The girl looked a bit confused, and retracted her hand. Then she smiled--a rather endearing effect in her furry face--and answered haltingly, "My name is Ryo-ohki. Who are you?"  
  
Rather than answering just yet, Shippo asked another question, "What are you?"  
  
"I am Ryo-ohki," responded the girl, looking puzzled at the question.  
  
"What kind of youkai are you?" clarified the kitsune boy.  
  
Ryo-ohki looked completely baffled. Looking pleadingly at him, she questioned, "Meow?"  
  
"I know you're a youkai; I saw you shapeshift. What kind are you? I'm a kitsune."  
  
"What is a ... 'youkai'?"  
  
That question set him back; everyone knew what youkai were, didn't they? Well, if he wanted an answer, he'd better try to explain. Sitting back on his tail, he began, "Well, um... Youkai are demons, sort of... or spirits... Well, we are creatures that have greater power than mere mortals. You don't look human, and you changed shape. What are you?"  
  
After a moment of intense concentration, she smiled, seeming proud that she had come up with an answer. "I'm a cabbit!"  
  
Shippo sweatdropped. "A cabbit?" he asked, slightly skeptical.  
  
"Mm-hm!" she nodded. Then, she illustrated her point by popping into the form of a small, gray rabbit with cat-like fur that looked up at the kitsune and commenting, "Meow." She then transformed back into the girl- child form.  
  
"I've never heard of a 'cabbit'. Where did you come from?" The girl's response took Shippo by surprise. Her eyes welled up with tears and she began to cry. "What's wrong? Did some other youkai kill your family?" He remembered his own condition after his father was killed.  
  
Ryo-ohki managed to choke out between sniffles, "N-no..sniff I sob 'm ... l-lost. wipe nose, sniffle I c-can't f-find my w-way sniff home!"  
  
Feeling sorry for the youkai girl, who suddenly seemed even younger than he was, Shippo decided to try to help her. Standing up, he offered her his hand to stand herself. "C'mon. I bet Kaede-bachan will be able to help you. I'll take you to the village."  
  
Her tears having finally stopped, Ryo-ohki managed a small smile. "Do you really think so?"  
  
"Sure. She's very smart." The fox-boy began walking.  
  
"Thank you very much for helping me." The cabbit-girl followed.  
  
* * *  
  
The small green figure leaned into the staff of heads, and smiled happily. "Lord Sesshoumaru will be so pleased with Jaken!" Jumping silently from tree to tree, he followed the kitsune youkai that had made friends with Lord Sesshoumaru's hanyou brother. The brat seemed to have made a friend, as well. Oh, well, a human hostage should be useful as well; maybe it could be used to convince the village to cooperate...  
  
But first, he would have to catch them. Speeding up, he got to the edge of the forest five minutes ahead of the two children. By the time they got there, he was ready. Their startled screams as they fell into his pit trap were music to his ears. He was so thrilled with the impending success of his plan that, as he stood at the edge of the pit, he couldn't help but laugh maniacally.  
  
"Kitsune-bi!" shouted the fox-youkai, sending a jet of foxfire streaking towards the green youkai. Jaken easily blocked it with his staff. Still laughing, he pulled a strip of blue paper out of his sleeve and threw it at the boy. It struck him on the forehead and stuck.  
  
Looking confused, the little youkai looked cross-eyed at the paper, and tried to reach up and remove it; he found that it stuck fast. Looking angry, he shouted "Kitsune-bi!" again. Nothing happened.  
  
"Ha ha ha!" laughed Jaken, "You can't get that off! It's a youkai- sealing ward. Your powers are useless until I remove it!"  
  
Suddenly, the girl who was with the fox-boy levitated up out of the pit. Jaken jumped backwards in startlement. Not willing to allow this unexpected development ruin his plan, he regained his composure quickly. Pulling out another of the sealing wards, he said, "So, you're a youkai, too? Here's one for you then..." The blue ward struck Ryo-ohki on the forehead, causing her to fall to the bottom of the pit, her powers sealed.  
  
"Meow!?" came the plaintive and worried cry. Jaken laughed in victory.  
  
* * *  
  
Sota's mother looked nervous. Ryoko was about to ask again, a bit more forcefully, when she spoke. "This well... it is a portal. It sends those with power through to the past. My daughter spends much time back there, seeking the pieces of the Shikon no Tama with a hanyou named Inu Yasha. She gets back and forth because she carries the shards of the Tama with her. I don't see how your pet could have gotten through."  
  
Unfortunately, Ryoko could see all too clearly. Her pet quite probably had more power than she did at that point. She only had one of her gems, so was at only one third of her potential power. Looking down the well, then back at the woman, Ryoko asked, "How does it work?"  
  
"Um, you just sort of go down, and then you are on the other side." Surprisingly, it was Sota that answered.  
  
That was all that Ryoko needed to hear. She didn't even bother to fly, but instead vaulted over the wall surrounding the well, falling all the way to the bottom. Once she landed, she looked around, not sure what to expect. After a few seconds, she flew straight up and out. She found Sota and his mother waiting for her. "Funny, this doesn't look like the past."  
  
"Obviously, you don't have enough power to activate the well," said a familiar voice. Ryoko turned towards the door to see Katsuhito standing there, the local priest standing in front of him, staring wide-eyed at the woman hovering over the well.  
  
"Lord Katsuhito," Ryoko began in her most polite, yet desperate voice, "Ryo-ohki fell down the well, and hasn't come back. I can't sense her anywhere! Help me, please!"  
  
"You're going to need your other two gems. That's the only way you're going to be able to get through."  
  
Ryoko nodded, her expression serious. She flickered out, teleporting away, leaving Katsuhito to explain their conversation to the old Priest and his less-than-stunned-family.  
  
* * *  
  
It took her the better part of an hour to fly to Tokyo, and another fifteen minutes to find Tenchi's apartment there. When she did, she actually remembered to do the polite thing, and knock on the front door. Unfortunately, it seemed that no one was home. Then she remembered: Tenchi and Sasami were probably both still in school. Well, it was unlikely that she would be able to find them, and even less likely that they would be pleased to see her if she interrupted their school. Since she needed Tenchi's help, she would wait; no matter that Ryo-ohki could be in danger every second she was alone in the past. She phased through the door after checking to be sure no one was looking; going to their living room, she sat down to wait.  
  
It was almost a half hour later that the couple came home. Sasami came bouncing in, as excited as ever, and Tenchi was smiling behind her at her exuberance. She froze when she saw Ryoko, who stood up from the couch to greet them.  
  
"Oh! Hello, Ryoko!" said Sasami, sounding a bit concerned that she was here. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Ryoko's here?!?" exclaimed Tenchi.  
  
Ryoko walked into the entry hall, where she could see both of them. "Hello, Sasami, Tenchi," she said, softly, with a slightly sad smile. "Tenchi, I need something from you."  
  
"Wh- what is it, Ryoko?" asked the boy, nervously.  
  
"Ryo-ohki's in trouble. I need the rest of my gems to rescue her. Please, Tenchi, give them to me. I promise not to trouble you further," pleaded the blue-gray haired woman.  
  
Tenchi still looked rather nervous about her being here--who could blame him, given her usual behavior around him? However, it seemed to be sinking in to him that she wasn't trying to hit on him or attack him. She was simply begging. Wait--Ryoko, begging?  
  
Sasami, meanwhile, had focused on a different point of Ryoko's speech. "Ryo-ohki's in trouble? Oh, dear! Tenchi, you have to help her!"  
  
The poor confused boy did the only logical thing: he nodded agreement. Pulling the Master Key out of his uniform, he held it out towards Ryoko. Ryoko stepped up and placed her hands on it. Tenchi concentrated, and the two gems remaining in the Key were transferred to the gold-eyed demon.  
  
Red energy crackled along her body as she regained her full power. "Thank you, Tenchi," she said, leaning forward to plant a kiss on his cheek, a single tear running down her face. Turning to Sasami, she said, "Take care of him, little Sasami."  
  
Sasami smiled. "I will, Ryoko. Thanks. Go save Ryo-ohki, okay?"  
  
Ryoko nodded, and then vanished.  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Note: I was rereading my story and noticed that the end of this chapter had been cut off. Here it is in its entirety. Then, today, I noticed that the formatting on this and the 5th chapter as I had uploaded them were also off, so I fixed that as well. 


	2. Youkai Hostages

"Where's Miroku?" asked Kagome.

Inuyasha looked askance at her. "Why? It's much better without that jerk around."

"Ohhh, he went off after that ninja girl again," creaked old Miyouga from Inuyasha's shoulder. The flea-youkai then bent his head to bite Inuyasha, and the hanyou smacked him for it. Miyouga fell, paper like, to the ground.

"What about Shippo? I know he isn't chasing girls," continued Kagome.

"He thought he saw something, so went off to look into it. He probably got distracted by something shiny--you know how that kitsune is," answered Inuyasha dismissively. "He'll probably catch up with us when we get back to the village."

Kagome was spending time in the past to learn from Kaede how to be a guardian priestess. They had almost finished gathering the shards of the Shikon no Tama, and it needed to be purified once completely reassembled. It also had to be defended from the various youkai who would come seeking it and the power it could grant. Kaede was too old to be a good defender, and she didn't have the power to purify the Shikon no Tama herself. These tasks would fall to Kagome and Inuyasha. The hanyou would be the perfect defender, and Kagome would have the power necessary to cleanse it with the proper training.

She was to spend the next couple of days in the village, then return to her home time to resume school. She would come back to continue her training with Kaede when summer vacation came around. Meanwhile, Inuyasha would defend the village and the nearly reassembled Shikon no Tama. It wouldn't do for any youkai to get a hold of it.

Arriving at the village, Kagome went straight to Kaede's house. Inuyasha was close behind. It wasn't until after dinner was finished and Miroku finally arrived that Kagome realized that she still hadn't seen Shippo since much earlier that day.

"He was still with you when I left around noon," said the monk in response to Kagome's question on the matter. "Why, did he get separated from you at some point?"

"He just went off to see something by himself. He'll be fine; his is a youkai, after all," said Inuyasha.

Kagome didn't look convinced. "He should have been back by now. I'm worried. He's still just a child."

"You worry too much, Kagome," groused Inuyasha. Miroku looked like he agreed with the hanyou.

Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by a loud sound outside. Shortly thereafter, a small child ran in. "Kaede! Inuyasha! Kagome! There's a youkai attacking the village!" she shouted breathlessly.

Inuyasha, Kagome, and Miroku ran outside; Kaede followed behind, slow with her age. At the edge of the village, they found one hut already in flames. Standing about twenty meters outside of the village was the giant oni that served Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha's half brother was standing in his typical place on the oni's left shoulder. "Ah, Inuyasha. I was wondering if you were going to come out," said Sesshoumaru with disdain.

"What are you doing here, bastard?" growled Inuyasha.

"Is that any way to greet your older brother? And I came bearing you a gift..."

Inuyasha increased his defensive posture; the last time his half-brother came with a "gift", it turned out to be a demon posing as his mother--and she almost killed Inuyasha. This time, however, when the giant oni opened its right hand, it revealed a cage with two small figures lying in the bottom of it. Jaken let loose a shrill laugh. "I captured your little friends: the kitsune and the strange fuzzy youkai!"

Sesshoumaru smiled. "As you can see, they are fine...for now. If you want them to remain so, give me the reconstituted Shikon no Tama and the Tetsusaiga. Otherwise..." The oni clenched the fist holding the cage, crushing it. Kagome screamed and Inuyasha took an aggressive and horror-stricken step forward before they noticed that two small torsos poked out of the top of the fist. They recognized Shippo's unconscious form, but not the girl next to him. Both children had blue sealing wards on their foreheads. Sesshoumaru leapt to the ground, and the oni turned and walked away, Jaken chasing behind. Sesshoumaru forestalls Inuyasha's demands that he return Shippo with a raise of his hand. "Next time, if I don't get what I want, the little youkai children will be crushed." With that, the dog-demon turned and leapt away so quickly he seemed to vanish.

Kagome collapsed to the ground in tears. "I knew he was in trouble! Why did he go off alone?"

"He should have been fine this close to the village," growled Inuyasha. "It wasn't your fault, Kagome. Besides, we'll just have to rescue him."

"Who was that other child that your brother had, Inuyasha?" asked Kaede, who had maintained her composure and noticed that there were two.

This brought Kagome back to reality. "I don't know," she said, remembering the little girl. "She didn't look familiar. Oh, no! That demon has captured a helpless girl along with Shippo!"

Inuyasha looked thoughtful as he responded, "No, she was definitely a youkai... she didn't smell human. Her scent was more that of a cat--or a rabbit. I wasn't sure which. She also had the same type of ward on her forehead that Shippo did. Why would Jaken bother warding a mortal? The question is: where did she come from?"

"Wait. Didn't you say that Shippo went off to investigate something he'd seen?" asked Miroku. At Inuyasha's nod, he continued, "Maybe she was what he saw. She could even have been bait for a trap!"

Kagome looked shocked at the idea. "But, if she was in on it, why would Sesshoumaru use her as a hostage?"

"I don't know. Maybe to trick us. Or maybe she outlived her usefulness," answered Miroku.

Kaede interrupted their conversation. "That's not important right now. Even if you fail to save your friend and he kills them when you don't give him what he wants, Inuyasha's brother won't give up. We need to get the Shikon no Tama to safety. Kagome, perhaps taking it back to your own time would be wise."

"But I can't just leave Shippo here! I can't leave it back there and still get back here--I need it to traverse the well!" argued Kagome.

Inuyasha put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll rescue the little pest. We can't let Sesshoumaru get what he's after. Much as I hate to admit it, Kaede's right."

"No! I'm not just leaving you guys here and that's final!" shouted Kagome.

Inuyasha picked her up forcefully and put her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. This engendered indignant shrieks from the young woman, and a little laughter from Miroku. "You're going home and that's final," declared the hanyou. "You'd just get in the way here, anyway," he said a few minutes later.

Kagome became really upset at this insult, and finally used her ultimate weapon to win any fight with Inuyasha: "Sit!"

The rosary around Inuyasha's neck glowed and pulled him violently to the ground. When the stunned half youkai was able to push himself to his feet, he saw Kagome had already made it quite some distance back towards the village. He leapt to catch her again, but she must have heard or seen him coming. When he was at the top of his jump, she shouted "Sit!" again, robbing him of all forward momentum and slamming him into the ground once more.

Fortunately, Miroku was waiting for her. "Kagome," he began, "They are right. For everyone's safety, you must take the Shikon no Tama back to your own time again, where Sesshoumaru and other youkai won't know to look for it. Leave the rescue of Shippo to us. This is the most important thing you can do at this time."

Looking nearly defeated, Kagome gave one last argument: "But we still have a few shards left to find."

Miroku nodded. "Yes, we do, and when we have Shippo back, Inuyasha can come get you to go looking for the remaining pieces and to complete your training with Kaede."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat, Kagome agreed. As she passed him heading towards the Bone-Eater's Well, she apologized to Inuyasha for saying "Sit." She then had to apologize again as the rosary responded to that casual use of the word.

At the well, Kagome turned to the two young men with her. "Goodbye, Miroku, Inuyasha. Rescue Shippo and come get me. I'll worry about you otherwise." She turned and jumped into the well.

Ryoko and Sota's mother entered the room holding the Bone-Eater's well just in time to find a young girl about Tenchi's age climbing out of it. Upon seeing her, the mother said, "Kagome! You're back early!" Seeing the look on her daughter's face, she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Yes!" answered the girl before realizing that there was a stranger present. "Um, I'll tell you later."

Ryoko was not feeling particularly patient at this point. Looking slightly angry, she asked, "So you're Sota's sister. I know all about your well and its secrets. Tell us what's the problem."

Looking first to her mother for reassurance, Kagome explained, "A dog-demon named Sesshoumaru kidnapped Shippo, and is demanding the Shikon no Tama and Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga in exchange for their lives. I brought the Shikon back here for safe keeping."

"Is that all?" Ryoko looked disdainful. "Get outta my way!" she ordered, rising into the air with power crackling from each gem.

Clutching a bead around her neck protectively, Kagome jumped backwards. "A youkai? In the shrine? How can this be? You won't get the Shikon from me!"

"I don't give a damn about your stupid Shikon no whatever-it-is," yelled Ryoko, truly irate now and barely restraining herself from blasting the girl who was still blocking her way. "My servant fell into that well, and I need to go and find her!"

Kagome looked at Ryoko, and her countenance changed from one of angry fear to pity tinged with fear. "Your servant isn't a small, fuzzy girl, is she?"

Ryoko stopped crackling with power and looked at the young priestess warily. "That is one of her forms. Why?"

"Sesshoumaru had her, too. She was his other hostage."

Now, Ryoko was livid. "So, he captured my Ryo-Ohki, did he? If he harmed one whisker, I'll destroy him! No, I think I'll do that anyway." Flying over the well, she looked back at Kagome once more to ask, "You said he was a dog-demon?" At Kagome's nod, Ryoko smiled viciously. "That shouldn't be too hard to find..." With that last statement, she flew straight down the well at full speed.

As she went through, she knew it was working this time. Not only did she see the darkness streaked with blue trans-dimensional energy, but she felt her gems resonating with the power of the well. When she hit bottom, she immediately pushed off, flying rapidly out of the well and into an outdoor scene. Looking around, she noticed a young man with white hair in a red robe standing nearby. Upon closer examination, she noticed that he had dog's ears. "Sesshoumaru!" she called by way of a challenge before raising both hand in front of her, palms out. When the dog-demon turned to face her, looking startled, she let loose an energy blast, powered by both her wrist gems.

The blast left a hemi-spherical crater five meters in diameter in the ground.

A/N: Tune in next week for…

(yeah, I know I'm evil, leaving you with a cliffhanger like this. I promise, I know what's happening next and will have a new chapter up soon.)


	3. The First real fight of the story

Inuyasha was walking away from the well through which Kagome had just returned to her own time when he heard someone call out his brother's name behind him. Startled, and worried that Sesshoumaru might be trying to follow Kagome back, he whirled around just in time to see a red beam of energy flashing towards him. It was so close that he barely managed to jump out of its direct path. He was caught by the explosion when it hit the ground where he had been standing, and thrown several meters backwards.

When he managed to clear his sight and hearing, he looked for the source of the attack--he didn't remember Sesshoumaru having any ranged ones; both sons of their father preferred melee combat. Briefly, he thought he saw a figure flying above the well, but it vanished when he tried to look closer at it. Taking a few steps forward, ready to defend against a frontal assault, he was caught off-guard when he caught an unfamiliar scent--sort of a cross between a human and a cat--behind him. He jumped forward and turned in mid jump, narrowly dodging a red beam of energy that swung like a sword and left a smell like lightning in the air.

Taking another leap backwards to put distance between himself and the wielder of the beam sword, he took stock of his opponent. She--for it was a woman--was obviously a youkai. The glowing energy sword was givaway enough, but it was also made obvious in the color of her hair (it was a sort of steely gray-blue) and the gold of her eyes. She also looked furious.

"If you tell me where Ryo-Ohki is, I might kill you quickly," she said, her voice grating with unrestrained anger.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" screamed Inuyasha. No one threatens him and gets away with it. He charged to the attack, shouting "Soul-Rending Iron Claw!"

He missed, as she jumped up just as he was about to connect. When he turned around to face his antagonist again, he saw that she was hovering in place, a few feet off the ground. "Hmm... Not bad... A little slow, though..." she taunted as she let loose another blast of ruby energy from her left hand, the energy sword in her right hand held at a careless angle.

Inuyasha had already jumped above the blast radius when the beam hit the spot where he'd been standing, and was decending to attack her from above--she wouldn't use flight to dodge this time! She looked suprised at the speed with which he had moved. He smiled in victory as he brought his claws down, dodging her attempts to parry with the energy sword, and was shocked when she flickered and vanished just before he hit her. He managed to use the hand extended for attack to go into a one-hand spring when he touched ground, flipping neatly to land upright on all fours. He rolled away from his landing spot clumsily, narrowly dodging another blast of energy. He dodged two more in quick succession, and then a third from a completely different direction caught him in the back--throwing him forward to slide along the ground, leaving a furrow of turned earth in the carpet of leaves behind him.

Picking himself up quickly, he found the woman-youkai standing in front of him, swinging that beam sword down at him. It hit him twice, leaving scorch marks in the fire rat hair robe, but not harming him through it. He came up swinging, catching his enemy under her chin with his claws and sending her flying up and backwards.

Before she recovered, he prepared his next attack. Cutting himself on his claws, he allowed his blood to soak them. As the witch gained her balance and stopped herself three-quarters of the way through her arc through the air, he swung is bloodied claws in her direction. As he shouted "Blood Claw!", the blood on the claws left arcs of red in the air which streaked towards his enemy. When they hit, they knocked her out of the air.

By the time she hit the ground, Inuyasha was already in mid-jump to continue his attack. He was going to come down right on top of her, impaling her on his claws and ending this fight. He was completely shocked, therefore, when she sank into the ground like a ghost, leaving him to land hard on his hands extended like blades and burying them to the elbows in the earth.

He remained frozen in that position for a moment, stunned that she had dodged his attack in such a way. Then, he remembered that he was still potentially in a dangerous combat, and, yanking his arms out of the ground, assumed a defensive posture.

Smelling her scent behind him--but not hearing a sound, she must be good at moving silently--he spun around to face her. He blocked two attacks with the sleeve of his robe before managing to get in a swing of his own. He would have connected with her face, except that she flickered and vanished again.

He smelled her filcker back into existance behind him, but, before he could even turn around to face her, he was surrounded by crackling ruby energy which immobalized him as it forced his body to arch in agony. He let out a beastial scream of pain as the energy actually picked him up a few inches off the ground.

When it suddenly stopped, he would have collapsed to the ground--too exhausted from pain to move for a moment--if the woman hadn't caught him in a grip that pinned him to her. When his senses returned to him half a second later, he noticed that the energy sword was held with its blade almost touching his throat. Struggling in her grasp he found to be quite useless, as she was at least as strong as he.

When he finally relaxed, conserving energy until she made a mistake, she spoke, her voice tight with anger. "Now, what have you done with my Ryo-Ohki?" she demanded.

"What are you talking about, witch?" asked Inuyasha, angry that she was asking him such stupid questions, but in no position to be arguing just yet.

More of that crackling energy arced across his body, causing him to cry out in pain again. "Don't play dumb with me! You captured my servant! Return her to me, and I'll kill you quickly; if she's been hurt...," at this point, the woman laughed sadistically, "Well, let's just say that it won't be quick."

"I don't know what your talking about!" he yelled. Then, his ears twitched as he heard something: a whirling sound that was rapindly approaching them from behind. Suddenly, the woman-demon that smelled sort of like a cat cried out as he heard a loud crack! of impact. She was thrown forward, and pushed him in the same direction. Fortuantely for Inuyasha's neck, the beam sword had winked out when the witch cried out, and he managed to slide a couple of meters away from her.

As he was picking himself up and looking around, he saw three things of importance: first, the youkai with which he was fighting had already recovered and was in the air looking towards the source of whatever it was that had hit her on the head; second, that the source of the impact was catching her giant boomerang; and third, that Miroku was removing the rosary that bound his air void.

That last was the most important thing. Inuyasha quickly began running as fast as he could on all fours in a path that would separate him from the youkai woman so that Miroku could eliminate her. The cat-youkai in question was looking _really pissed off, now, and was aiming one palm at each of the newcomming humans. Energy blasted from those palms at the same instant that Miroku managed to open his air void and aim it at her. The energy was consumed by the vortex of air, and the woman looked shocked as she began to be sucked in as well. She seemed to be able to fight the pull briefly, but was slowly being dragged in._

Inuyasha was privately glad that the fight was now apparently over; though he would never have admitted it to anyone, he didn't think he could have beaten this youkai on his own. She was just too powerful.

His relief over the impending end of the fight was short lived, however, as the woman again pulled that teleporting trick to appear outside of the vortex of air, which Miroku quickly shut in shock.

"I see you have servants of your own," said the woman, as everyone paused to catch their breath. "Well, they will not be much help." She again teleported, this time appearing behind Sango, who she promptly captured in a hold as she began to fly, taking her new captive with her. The beam sword reappeared, held threateningly near the ninja-girl's throat.

"Sango!" shouted Miroku in dismay. "Let her go!"

The youkai laughed. "I think not. You won't use that vacuum of yours while it might get her, I think. Return Ryo-Ohki to me, or I kill her. After her, I kill him," she said, pointing at Miroku. "Then, I will keep you alive as long as I can!" Her eyes were blazing with anger. Sango was wisely remaining still.

Miroku looked at Inuyasha. "What is this ryo-ohki thing she's demanding? Just give it back to her so she'll let Sango go!"

"Feh. I don't know what she's ranting about," answered Inuyasha, "She just started attacking me as I was heading back to the village. Since I don't have her stupid ryo-ohki, I guess we'll just have to kill her to rescue Sango."

Miroku looked pleadingly at the flying youkai. "We don't have this 'ryo-ohki' of yours--we don't even know what it is. Please, just let her go. Maybe we can help you find it."

"Don't lie to me!" yelled the woman. "I know he has her! That woman's daughter on the other side of the well, Kagome, told me that a dog-demon had my servant and was using her as a hostage." She turned to look directly at Inuyasha, ignoring the human for the moment. "Return her to me, Sesshoumaru. Now."

"Sesshou--"began Sango, sweatdropping.

"--maru?" finished Miroku, doing the same.

"Who are you calling 'Sesshoumaru', you stupid witch!?" screamed Inuyasha in fury.

The strange youkai looked confused now. "You're..._not Sesshoumaru?" she asked, truly puzzled. Then her face hardened. "You're lying again! You're a dog-demon, Sesshoumaru's a dog-demon. How many of those can there be near the place where Ryo-Ohki dissapeared?"_

Sango spoke up, gently placing a hand on the arm that held her captive. "That's Inuyasha. He's only half dog-demon. Sesshoumaru is his half-brother."

The woman decended slowly to the ground, releasing Sango when they got down. Inuyasha looked like he was going to attack her as soon as Sango was out of the way, but Miroku stayed him with an upraised hand. The youkai-woman looked thoughtful. "Kagome's mother mentioned someone named Inuyasha... he _was a dog-demon who was helping Kagome..."_

"We're gathering the shards of the Shikon no Tama; I need her to see the blasted things," explained Inuyasha, exasperated and angry.

If it had been an American cartoon, a light bulb would have lit up over the woman's head. "Wait, the Shikon no Tama is what Kagome said Sesshoumaru was after. He was holding hostages to demand it."

"Yeah, he's got a little Kitsune named Shippo," said Miroku.

"...and another small youkai girl," continued Inuyasha, in a thoughtful tone of voice.

"Ryo-Ohki!" exclaimed Ryoko. "How _dare he use my servant as a hostage!? I'll destroy him!" Power was crackling from the woman again._

Sango had backed away to avoid being blasted, should she decide to vent her obvious anger on the closest people. "Perhaps," she began tentatively, "we could help each other? We seem to have an adversary in common, and both of us have friends held by him. My name is Sango, the monk is Miroku, and the hanyou over there is Inuyasha, whom you have already met." She stepped forward again, hoping that the woman would calm enough to listen.

Fortunately, the woman seemed to realize that attacking them wouldn't help her. The power stopped crackling about her as she visibly controlled herself. "I am Ryoko," she said. Looking slightly ashamed of herself, she said, "I am sorry for mistaking you for Sesshoumaru. Tell me where he is, and I'll leave you in peace."

"Feh. We don't know where he is," said Inuyasha. "If we did, we'd take the fight to him ourselves. You're welcome to help us beat him."

"Come to back to the village with us," offered Miroku, who seemed to be leering at Ryoko. "He's sure to come back there to make his demands again. You can share my accomodations, if you like."

Sango hit him over the head with her boomerang. "Pervert."

Ryoko had reluctantly agreed to accompany them to the village, as she had no alternative. She really needed something to let her anger out on, but didn't want to frighten people unnecessarily--she was apparently after a demon who had the whole countryside against him, so she could use that to her advantage if she stayed on their good side. An old priestess name Kaede had greeted her when she arrived, and had offered her a place to sleep while they waited for Sesshoumaru to return to make his demands again.

Ryoko was chafing at the lack of activity. She wanted to be out there, fighting. Waiting around just wasn't her style. Even as a Space Pirate, she had hated waiting in ambush for targets to come along. That was why she had taken to attacking planets--they didn't move and were always there to be looted. She had gone outside after dinner, and was sitting alone, reveling in her reaquired power. She had forgotten what it felt like to have all three gems. The increase was remarkable; the fight with that Inuyasha would not have been so easy with only the one she'd been using since Tenchi freed her from Yosho's prison in the cave.

She was hoping that she could sense Ryo-Ohki out there, but the most she could get was a sense that she was alive, and in this world. Other than that, she couldn't locate her...distance and direction were mysteries. She was tired, but filled with her rejuvenated energy. She was to the point where she could either rage in anger or cry. As she was alone, and had learned some mercy from her time with Tenchi, she chose the latter. Quiet tears fell down her face, releasing some of the tension of the day. She couldn't afford to let all her anger convert to tears--she would need it in the upcoming battle--but this small outlet was necessary.

She was sitting alone along the outside of the hut, just about to determine that her quota of tears was used up, when another presence made himself known. "A beautiful woman shoud never cry alone," said Miroku, sitting down beside her.

Ryoko smiled, stopping her tears. She couldn't do anything about the tracks they'd left down her face without wiping them, and she wouldn't do that. "I don't seem to be alone, do I?" she responded, looking at the blue-robed monk. She let no trace of sadness remain in her expression.

"No, but you were. I couldn't leave you that way. A woman like you does not deserve sadness."

"I'm not sad. I'm a little worried about Ryo-Ohki, and angery at Sesshoumaru, but not sad," she lied.

Miroku reached out and placed his left hand over her right. "Perhaps I could cheer you up?" he offered. "A little...conversation can do wonders." He scooted a little closer to her, so their shoulders were almost touching.

"Well, then," said Ryoko, "why don't you tell me about that attack you used on me--that thing in your hand."

The monk actually looked a little taken aback, perhaps a bit sad. "This is my curse," he said, raising the rosary-bound hand in a fist. "A baleful demon named Naraku cursed my ancestor to have this air void in his hand, and to pass it on to his decendents. Eventually, it consumes us all."

"So, one day you'll die from it?"

Miroku nodded, a mournful look on his face. "I have to find Naraku and destroy him. It is the only way to lift the curse. Should I fail, my son will have to continue the quest." He looked hopefully at Ryoko as he slipped his uncursed hand from hers. "It is my duty to continue my family line," he said, slipping the now free hand down to cup her bottom. "Will you bear my child?" He gave her a light squeeze.

Ryoko looked at him thoughtfully. He was kind of attractive, and she really had given up on ever being with Tenchi. But, she also had learned how much loving someone could mean. Looking at the monk, who still had his hand firmly under her rear, she came to a decision.

A/N: I thought it appropriate to give Ryoko some new power as well as greater with the aquisition of all three gems. I know she never manifested an attack like the crackling energy in any series, but I decided she could do that now. ;p

Sorry it took so long to post this. I got it finished while ff.net was reconstructing, so put it up as soon as the site allowed posting again.


	4. Cat-fight/Dog-fight

UMR 2 4 2001-11-05T01:07:00Z 2001-11-05T01:07:00Z 5 2965 16902 University of Missouri - Rolla 140 33 20756 9.3821 0 6 pt 6 pt 0 

                Miroku was braced for the slap he knew was coming. He was surprised that it hadn't occurred yet.  Meanwhile, he was enjoying the feeling of Ryoko's bottom in his hand. The youkai woman was still looking at him with an indeterminable expression on her pretty face.

                _Ah, here it comes, he thought, tensing for a blow and closing his eyes in anticipatory dread as her arm began moving. He was doubly shocked, therefore, when he felt her hand touching him gently--on his crotch. Opening his eyes wide, he saw her smiling face inches from his, a glint of mischief in her eyes._

                Leaning forward, she whispered in his ear, her breath tickling, "Perhaps some other time." She giggled and gave him a light squeeze, then teleported away, leaving the monk with blood pooling in two places. One was his nosebleed.

                The next morning, Ryoko was still asleep as Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku were finishing breakfast. She slept through the clean up of the dishes, too. In fact, as no one was willing to attempt to awaken her, she was still asleep by late morning when Jaken appeared at the edge of the village. "Inuyasha! Are you going to meet Lord Sesshoumaru's demands? Give me the Tetsusaiga and the Shikon no Tama and I'll bring them to him. Then he'll return your little friends."

                Inuyasha's yell of "You Bastard!" could be heard throughout the village. "I'll send you--"

                "Wait," interrupted Miroku. "Let me handle this," he whispered to the angry Hanyou. Turning to Jaken, he continued, "Why should we trust your word? How do we know that Sesshoumaru will return them unharmed? He isn't even here! How do we know that you will even return the items to him, rather than keep them yourself? That wouldn't do us any good, our friends would still be his hostages. Bring your master here to make the exchange."

                Jaken looked taken aback. "W-what? You would suggest that I would go against Lord Sesshoumaru? N-never! You'll regret refusing me; my master is less forgiving. Maybe you'll only get back one of your friends now. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jaken ran off, laughing maniacally.

                No one noticed the humanoid figure following the green youkai from the air.

                _So, that little creature is Sesshoumaru's servant. He'll lead me right to him, thought Ryoko, smiling maliciously. He was proving surprisingly difficult to follow--more due to his small size allowing the foliage to hide him than any attempt at stealth--as she flew through the forest in incorporeal form to avoid making any noise and to stay close to him. He wasn't even aware of her presence._

                Suddenly, the little thing she was trailing entered a clearing, where it stopped and bowed to a beautiful young man with white hair, eyes the same color as Ryoko's, red streaks on his cheeks and a crescent moon on his forehead, and a white, fuzzy fur wrapped around him like a scarf. "Lord Sesshoumaru! They refused to release the items to me! They insist that you come yourself and bring the hostages to make the exchange! I don't trust them, it might be a trap!" Then, he seemed to choke after hearing what he'd said. "N- not that you couldn't handle a trap if it was!" he hastily appended.

                The youth--he must be Sesshoumaru; Ryoko could now see that he wasn't human--looked lazily at his servant. "So, they think I'm bluffing, do they? We will go to their village this evening. If they do not give me what I want, we will leave one of their friends with them--as a corpse," he said, smiling. His voice was soft, threatening, velvet-covered steel. Standing up, he paced over to a tree, from which hung a cage with two unconscious figures in it. Sesshoumaru reached in and pulled one of them into a standing position. Ryoko recognized it as Ryo-Ohki in her child form. "This one will do."

                "Release her, or whether or not your little brother gives you what you want will be the least of your worries," said Ryoko as she descended to the ground in the midst of the clearing, wearing her black-and-red battle costume.

                The little green creature interposed itself between her and its master, holding a long staff upright before it. "How dare you threaten Lord Sesshoumaru?! Be gone!"

                Ryoko ignored it. "Release Ryo-Ohki now, and I will let you live," said Ryoko.

                Sesshoumaru smiled, but his servant didn't see it and spoke before he could. "You fool! You're not worthy to die at Lord Sesshoumaru's hand! I'll destroy you myself!" With that, the mouth on the man's head topping the staff opened and spewed forth flame. Ryoko calmly raised her left arm with the back of her hand to the fire, and the gout of flame splashed off of the force field, not coming anywhere near its target. Then she turned her palm towards the source of this minor annoyance and energy blasted it. The small green demon was flung backwards, the staff the only thing keeping him from being destroyed by the blast.

                Sesshoumaru looked at her, seeming bored. "So, my little brother is sending women to fight his battles. I'm sorry, I just don't have the patience to fight you. You'll have to be satisfied with him," he declared as he jumped up into the trees. Following him with her eyes, Ryoko noticed a huge ogre-like demon towering above the canopy. It swung its mammoth hand down to strike her, but she just went incorporeal, allowing it to pass straight through her.

                "So," said Ryoko as she levitated off the ground to stand on a branch on the other side of the clearing, "you would summon another creature to fight for you. Very well. I am Ryoko the Demon Summoner! I can play that game, too!" As she called on the power of her wrist gems, ghostly wisps began to gather in front of her. Within seconds, they coalesced into a cohesive form: a translucent blue demon with six red eyes. Exerting her will through the appropriate wrist gem (she smirked as she thought about the last time she had tried this...and forgotten that she couldn't control it while missing that gem), she ordered her summoned minion, "Destroy that ugly thing." The blue demon streaked towards the black one, and their fight was on.

                "Now, pretty-boy," taunted Ryoko, as she again took to the air, "you're mine!" With that, she unleashed a hand blast at the white-haired youth.

                Sesshoumaru was slightly impressed. This youkai-woman had style. She had issued her challenge, then knocked out Jaken and neutralized his minion with one of her own, and now was pressing her attack. However, she was moving much too slowly to be a real threat. Her first attack was predictable--he'd already seen her energy ray when she used it on Jaken--and when it got to him he casually batted it away with his right hand. Maybe her left arm could be used to replace his after he killed her.

                He was swiftly brought out of his inattentive state of mind when he realized that she had vanished from his field of view while he was batting away her energy beam. Sniffing quickly, he smelled a cat-youkai behind him. He jumped forward into the air, turning quickly. When he looked at her, he saw that he had narrowly missed being slashed with a sword of energy. She leapt at him, sword extended to impale him. He used his hand to block it, then shot up into the sky to get away from her long enough to prepare an attack of his own.

                As he ascended, he glanced at his oni, and saw that it was still locked in combat with the youkai-woman's demon. Once clear of her, he extended his index finger, and a green tendril shot out from it. When the woman--she had called herself Ryoko--reached him, he caught the swing of her sword with the poison energy whip. While she was dealing with that, he shot downwards at her, catching her in the face with his foot. She fell downward a good fifty feet before catching herself. Pressing his advantage, he attacked her with the whip, hitting her several times before she caught it in her empty hand. Looking up at him, anger plain on her face, she threw her energy sword at him.

                She was so slow! He just seemed to vanish as he dodged the projectile and moved behind her. She didn't even realize he had moved until he hit her in the back, yelling "Poison Claw!" As the green acidic mist came from his fingernails, she arched her back to get away from it. Reaching over her shoulders, she pointed her hands at him, fingers together. When she clenched them into claws, a red field of energy surrounded his body, causing him to cry out in pain. Kicking her hard in her back, he pushed away, escaping the crackling attack. Catching his breath, he took stock of his opponent. She was returning the scrutiny. Amazing! She was no more winded than he!

                "Had enough, Sesshoumaru?" taunted Ryoko. "I'll go easy on you, and let you escape with your life, if you release Ryo-Ohki now."

                Sesshoumaru smiled dangerously. Jaken, who had just managed to regain consciousness and get back to the clearing, took one look at his master and fled screaming, not even noticing the two servant demons still fighting--both looking rather the worse for wear.

                "I do not give up to fools who threaten me. You cannot win, and for challenging me, you will die," was Sesshoumaru's response. He charged her, seeming to blur. She was ready for this attack, however, and his poison claw attack only hit the force field generated by one of her arms. The other arm swung the energy sword at him, forcing him to fly backwards to dodge. She shot an energy blast at him, which he deflected with his hand in the same motion that he lashed out with his green energy whip. This was blocked by Ryoko's sword. He was moving faster than the eye could follow, but she would vanish every time he was about to strike, reappearing somewhere else and unleashing an energy blast which he would have to use another burst of speed to dodge.

                Jaken, meanwhile, was working up enough courage to return and support his master. "Lord Sesshoumaru needs me! What if that Inuyasha or his friends come while that youkai woman is distracting Lord Sesshoumaru? They could take away the hostages! Then Jaken would be in trouble! I must get back to guard them."

                Jaken finally got back to the clearing nearly an hour later to see his master and that woman still fighting in the air. His lord was moving faster than he could follow, and the woman was teleporting around. When he looked around, he was just in time to see the blue demon disintegrate and the black oni collapse from a fatal wound.

                Taking up a guarding position near the cage, he turned his attention back towards the battle in the sky. It had become a close combat with Sesshoumaru's speed making up for his missing arm. The woman was using one arm like a shield with a force field, her other hand wielding an energy blade. Finally, the combatants separated violently, resorting to ranged weapons again. Sesshoumaru was lashing out with his green whip, but the woman kept teleporting out of the way. His speed allowed him to dodge her energy blasts.

                Unfortunately for Jaken, neither combatant was paying attention to where the energy blasts were going when they missed, and at one point Sesshoumaru was between Jaken and the youkai-woman. When the white-haired dog-youkai dodged, the energy beam struck the ground between the green youkai and the cage holding the hostages. The ground detonated with concussive force and heat, flinging Jaken several meters through the air. When he picked himself up, he saw that the blast had broken the cage. Worse still, the warding strips had been burnt off, and the two youkai were stirring. And he didn't have any more sealing wards available at the moment.

                He walked over to where they were standing up, using the Staff of Heads to support himself--that energy blast _hurt!--and stood over them as they regained their feet. "Don't try anything, little ones. I'll burn you with this staff if you try to run._

                The little kitsune growled, but subsided. He turned to the fuzzy girl. "Do as he says, Ryo-Ohki," he said with a sigh.

                The girl's response was a questioning "Meow?"

                "We're no match for his staff," explained the little fox youkai.

                "Ho ho ho ho! Just sit there, or I'll burn you up!" laughed Jaken as the battle raged behind him.

                The fuzzy girl looked behind Jaken, and her eyes widened. Then she smiled a cute little malicious smile. "Come on, Shippo," she said, grabbing his arm, "we're leaving."

                Jaken was flabbergasted. "No you're not! Stay right there, or I'll burn you!" he held up the staff threateningly, and the man's mouth opened.

                The little girl ignored him and leapt into the air. Jaken was so startled that she was three meters up before he unleashed the gout of flame from the man's mouth. The flames enveloped the pair as they rose.

                Shippo was screaming in panic. He had just awakened sore with the sealing ward burnt off his forehead, and now his new friend was trying to get them killed by Jaken. She had grabbed his arm and leapt into the air. Shippo just knew that Jaken was going to roast them alive, and it was going to hurt.

                Ryo-Ohki let loose a very loud "MEOW!" that drew Shippo's attention to her. When he looked, black crystalline spikes were shooting out of her body, and her body was disappearing in their midst. As she was small, and holding onto his arm, he was quickly being swallowed up as well. When the fire from Jaken's staff sprang at them, it was deflected by a force field of some sort.

                Just when he thought he was going to be crushed by the crystalline spikes, he found himself in a large, open room. It was circular, with a hemispherical dome forming the walls and ceiling. The predominant color was pale blue, which sometimes faded to white or deepened to navy. In the center of the room was a stand with a dome on it, and there were little lit up squares flashing about its surface. Hovering about the chamber were dark blue crystals that sometimes brightened to red.

                There was no visible entrance to indicate how Shippo might have gotten in, and he couldn't see Ryo-Ohki anywhere. This examination of his surroundings took less than five seconds. Nervously, he spoke to the room around him, "H-hello? Is there anybody here? Ryo-Ohki, where are you? How did I get here?"

                One of the larger crystals glowed red and flew over to hover in front of him. It was twice his size, and its sudden motion scared him and made him fall over onto his tail. When he righted himself, he saw that the crystal had an image in it: Ryo-Ohki was standing inside it, looking at him!

                He pressed his hands against the crystal, and shouted so that she could hear within it, "Ryo-Ohki! How'd you get in there? Are you trapped? Can I get you out?"

                The girl within the crystal covered her mouth and giggled. "I'm not trapped, silly," she said. "You're inside me. I am this space ship."

                Shippo stepped back, looking completely confused. "'Space...ship'?"

                Ryo-Ohki considers for a moment, then says, "Never mind. I transformed into a fighting form. You're inside it. This is just an image of me that you see. Let me show you what's going on outside." Another crystal floated over, and in it formed an image of Sesshoumaru. Another had in it a woman, and the way the crystals moved showed the two fighting. A fourth crystal showed Jaken on the ground, looking in shocked horror straight out of the crystal.

                "He's scared!" giggled Shippo.

                The image of Ryo-Ohki smiled mischievously. "Of course he is. I'm a menacing space battleship," she said. Then her smile turned malicious. "He's looking right at us. Let's get him!" Shippo nodded his agreement. Several smaller crystals moved to spin around the one showing Jaken, and began to move upwards so that the plane of the circle they formed was above the crystal showing Jaken. They began to glow red, then shot an energy beam down at him. It entered the crystal and impacted the image of Jaken, blotting out the entire image in red light.

                Jaken stared in shock at the large, black object into which the little youkai girl had transformed. It looked like a red sphere resting in the center of a crown of black spikes, with one spike projecting out the bottom of the structure. The flame from his staff hadn't even touched it as it formed, and now it hovered several hundred meters above him, menacingly. It began to swivel the large spike towards him. Once it was pointing at him, it began to glow red. A bright beam of energy shot out from it. When it hit him, Jaken couldn't even scream as it incinerated his body.

                This Sesshoumaru was a tough opponent, tougher even than Kagato. She had to devote her whole attention to this fight, and this man was still taking everything she had and dishing out the same. She was injured, but so was he. He was impossibly fast, but her teleporting and his missing arm evened the match. Both their summoned servants had fallen some time ago, and Ryoko's opponent was still going strong. At one point, she had heard a very loud "MEOW!", but she didn't have time to pay attention to its source, as Sesshoumaru was using his speed to its fullest effect, forcing her to teleport repeatedly.

                It was only when the blast of red energy exploded on the ground, distracting both combatants, that Ryoko was able to notice a minor detail: Ryo-Ohki was free, and in her mammoth space battleship form. Realizing that this fight was both unnecessary and now easily won, she flew towards her servant battleship, dodging Sesshoumaru's energy whip. When she was close enough, she teleported inside.

                There, a surprise met her. Several of Ryo-Ohki's crystals were clustered together like they were showing someone something. When she floated over to see what was going on, she saw a small boy with a furry tail watching the crystals, which showed several views: Sesshoumaru hovering outside; a large, burnt swath of forest where Ryo-Ohki's main gun had fired into the ground; and several tactical maps of the surrounding area.

                Ryoko queried Ryo-Ohki telepathically, _Who is this? What has happened to you since you arrived here?_

                Ryo-Ohki sent images and reports streaming into her mistress's mind, catching her up to date on everything she had experienced since left with Sota to play. Now Ryoko knew who this little intruder on her bridge was.

                "Well, hello, Shippo," she said, startling the kitsune. "I understand you have befriended my little Ryo-Ohki. Thank you for trying to help her."

                Shippo, for his part, had leapt almost five feet in the air. "Wh-wh-who are you?" he chittered.

                Ryoko laughed kindly. "Ryo-Ohki is my...pet, for lack of a better word. Or perhaps ward would be more appropriate. Anyway, she is my servant, and I care for her. Thank you for trying to help her. Now, let's take care of that fool who dared challenge me and kidnap Ryo-Ohki!"

                Another loud "MEOW!" echoed through the bridge, and the crystals flew to life. Holographic projection screens sprang into being about the place, showing the surrounding countryside in various sensor readings. Ryoko walked over to the console in the center of the room, and Shippo jumped up to cling onto one of the crystals so he could watch.

                Unfortunately, there was no sign of Sesshoumaru on the readings. "Damn!" swore Ryoko. "He must have fled. Well, I will continue this fight some other time. Ryo-Ohki says she has already had her revenge--against that demon Jaken--so let's just get you back to your friends, shall we?" The last was directed towards Shippo, who nodded his emphatic and greatful agreement. The little fox-demon looked exhausted.

                Sesshoumaru watched the strange mononoke that had absorbed his opponent as it flew back towards the village. That woman may have escaped his wrath this time, but he would deal with her again later. She was even more of a challenge than his little hanyou half-brother. The workout of destroying her would be good. Unfortunately, his hostages had vanished. He did find the charred, desiccated corpse of his servant Jaken. Drawing the Tenseiga, he studied the demonic messengers from the world of death as they swarmed over Jaken's corpse. He swung the Tenseiga through them.

                "Come, Jaken," he said, walking away, "we should get back to Rin."

Author's Note: I know this took a long time, but I wanted to get this story arc's climax right. There is more plot coming...the whole point of this story is upcoming. I just recently finished episodes 30-45 of Inuyasha, so have met Rin. I've only seen her personality in one episode, but found her to be cool. She will be making appearances later. Oh, and if anyone knows where I can get translated episodes beyond 45, I'd appreciate a heads up in either a review or at cej@umr.edu.


	5. Playmates

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I found youuuuuu!" growled a high pitched voice as a large, blue, balloon-like ball with a cartoonish face rose up above the walls formed by the branches of the tree in which she was hiding. Yelping, she stumbled backwards and fell out of her position in the crook of the branches. Less then a second later, she hit the ground almost four meters below.  
  
She lay there, stunned, for a short time before standing up and rubbing her bottom. "Owwww," she whined softly. She watched the blue ball as it decended towards her, a look a surprise on its face.  
  
It was looking right and left at the ground, but she had hidden behind the tree trunk, so it wasn't seeing her. "Where did you go, Ryo- Ohki? I found you, no fair hiding again," said the confused looking orb.  
  
Suddenly, a small figure lept from a tree above the decending balloon. A girl's voice yelled "Meow!" as the figures collided, and they both vanished within a puff of white smoke. A soft "phumpfh" punctuated the impact that a small form made with the ground. When she peeked out from behind her tree again, she saw a small boy with a large fluffy tail standing up and glaring at a fuzzy gray girl who was hovering about a foot off the ground. She knew she'd seen both of them before... She put her fist in her palm--quietly, so as not to reveal her presence to the two friends-- as she placed them: they were the two youkai that Lord Sesshoumaru had held prisoner. They had been unconsious in a cage at the time.  
  
"No fair, Ryo-Ohki!" yelled the boy indignantly. "I didn't know you could teleport like Ryoko! No fair teleporting!"  
  
The girl looked confused. "I can't teleport..."  
  
"But-- but-- I saw you in that tree!" sputtered the boy. "There's no way you could have gotten up there behind me without me seeing you!"  
  
The fuzzy girl looked towards the tree at which the boy was pointing and responded, "I wasn't in that tree, Shippo. I was flying just beneath the canopy."  
  
"I know I saw someone in that tree," said the boy, cautiously. "And I heard a startled yell just before she vanished. If it wasn't you, then who was it?"  
  
She pulled back a bit, so the pair wouldn't see her as they looked around. Sesshoumaru had told her not to be seen. Unfortunately, she couldn't see them while she was hiding completely, and, when she peeked out, she could only see the boy--Shippo--looking around in the foliage. He was facing away from her. She giggled silently into her hand as he looked in entirely the wrong place to find her.  
  
She jumped in surprise when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Shippo! I found someone!" called out a child's voice behind her. When she turned around to look at the fuzzy youkai girl--Ryo-ohki, if she had heard the boy named Shippo right--the girl smiled. "Hi! I'm Ryo-ohki! Who are you?"  
  
Uh-oh, she'd been found. Well, now that she had been seen, she couldn't do any worse. She may as well introduce herself. "Rin," she answered.  
  
"Were you playing hide-and-go-seek, too?" asked Ryo-ohki.  
  
Rin thought about it for a moment, and she supposed she had been. She nodded, smiling.  
  
Shippo had run over to them. "Who's this?" he asked Ryo-ohki. Before she had a chance to answer, he turned and looked more closely at Rin. "Were you the person up in that tree?" When Rin nodded, he continued, "Sorry for scaring you out of it. I thought you were Ryo-ohki. What were you doing up there?"  
  
"Watching," answered Rin. "You were funny looking before Ryo-ohki tackled you. My name's Rin!" she bowed politely.  
  
Shippo transformed into the blue balloon form. "I am a frightening youkai," he intoned in his deepest growl--which still was rather child-like and nowhere near a bass--while rolling his eyes in what he thought was a menacing way. "Fear me!" Ryo-ohki giggled at Shippo's performance, and Shippo focussed his eyes on Rin. "Are you a youkai?" he asked in a more normal voice.  
  
"Mm-mm," Rin shook her head. Pointing her thumb at her chest, she proudly stated, "I'm a human!"  
  
Shippo popped back into his fuzzy-tailed boy form and landed on the ground. "You're human? And your not afraid to be alone in the forest with two dangerous youkai?"  
  
Rin looked from Shippo to Ryo-ohki and back again. They looked like children her own age. Granted, Shippo had a tail that was almost as big as he was, and Ryo-ohki was covered in furr, but so what? "Should I be afraid? You don't look all that dangerous," she said.  
  
Shippo swelled up, sticking out his chest. "We are too!"  
  
He deflated when Ryo-ohki elbowed him in the stomach. "We wouldn't hurt you. You wanna play with us?"  
  
Shippo nodded agreement. "Most humans are afraid of youkai. Even children like us."  
  
"Not me! I think it's neat to meet youkai!" answered Rin. "What d'you want to play?"  
  
Ryo-ohki and Shippo looked at each other and grinned. Rin caught on as they opened their mouths to take in a breath to speak together, and she joined them as they gleefully shouted, "Hide-and-Seek!"  
  
* * *  
  
Rin proved surprisingly adept at the game, successfully finding both Shippo and Ryo-ohki, even when Ryo-ohki flew. Shippo tried flying to hide, but his big blue balloon form is hard to miss, let alone hide. She proved not to be ground-bound, as she could scale a tree almost as fast as Ryo- ohki could fly upwards through its branches (unless, of course, Ryo-ohki went incorporeal and just phased through them).  
  
However, this time Ryo-ohki was it. She was having a hard time finding either of them. She drifted through the forest about twenty feet off the ground, looking up and down for either of them. Finally, she saw an orangeish brown bushy thing sticking out of a tree. Drifting towards it quietly, she managed to surprise Shippo, who had fallen asleep in the crook of two branches. She woke him up, and told him "You're it!"  
  
Then they both went to the ground to see if they could find Rin. As it was beginning to get dark, they finally gave up and Ryo-ohki cupped her hands over her mouth and called out "Mee-ow mee-ow Cabbit-free!"  
  
A minute later, Rin walked up behind them. "You guys didn't find me," she said accusingly, a smile of amusement on her face.  
  
"You hide well," said Shippo, admiringly. "It's getting late. We'd better get back to the village."  
  
Rin looked at the sky and panicked. "Oh, no! I'm late! Bye-bye! I'll see you later!" she said as she turned to run off, waving as she said goodbye.  
  
Ryo-ohki and Shippo were too startled to move for a minute. Then they looked at each other and shrugged. They didn't know where she was going, but she said she'd be back tomorrow. They needed to get back to the village.  
  
As they travelled back, they eventually heard voices calling their names. "Ryo-ohki!" called Ryoko. "Shippo! It's time to come home!" yelled Kagome. When the two youkai children met the ladies, Ryo-ohki popped into her cabbit form and snuggled into Ryoko's arms. Kagome picked up the exhausted Shippo, holding him so his head was on her shoulder. Both children were asleep within minutes.  
  
* * *  
  
Author's Note: Well, I finally began the second story arc. C'mon, review and tell me what you think. Reviews with content that help me write better will be rewarded with thanks in future Author's Notes.and better writing. 


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